American Eagle pilot fails alcohol test, suspended

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? An American Eagle pilot was suspended after failing a blood-alcohol test as he prepared to fly on Friday from Minneapolis to New York City, authorities said.

Police at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport said officers and a Transportation Security Administration agent smelled alcohol as they passed the pilot waiting to get on an elevator. The pilot was conducting preflight checks at about 6 a.m. when police boarded the aircraft, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said.

Officers made him take a breath test and arrested him on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol, Hogan said. Passengers had not yet boarded the flight to New York's LaGuardia Airport, he said.

Hogan said airport police will wait until blood tests are processed before deciding whether to file charges against the pilot. Police identified the pilot as 48-year-old Kolbjorn Jarle Kristiansen. He was released to airline employees several hours after his arrest.

Federal rules prohibit pilots from flying within eight hours of drinking alcohol or if they have a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 or higher, half the level allowed for motorists.

Hogan said preliminary results from the breath test were well over the legal limit, but he declined to release the results. He said the "more precise" results from the blood test would be released when they're available.

The pilot has been suspended pending an investigation, said Matt Miller, a spokesman for American Airlines, which uses American Eagle to operate shorter connecting flights. Both airlines are owned by AMR Corp. Miller said the company is cooperating with authorities and will conduct an internal investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at a North Carolina number listed in Kristiansen's name referred inquiries to the Air Line Pilots Association, his union. She said he has been a member of the union for 23 years, but she declined further comment or to identify herself.

Messages left with union officials were not immediately returned.

The flight, with 53 passengers on board, was delayed about 2 ? hours while a replacement pilot was arranged, Miller said. It arrived in New York after noon.

The pilot was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital to have a blood sample taken, then was returned to airport police before being released, Hogan said.

Pilots face drug and alcohol testing when they seek a job, are involved in an accident or return from alcohol rehabilitation. Some are selected for random tests. More than 10,000 pilots are tested each year and about a dozen flunk the alcohol part ? a number that has remained mostly steady for more than a decade, according to federal statistics.

Twelve pilots failed the breath test in 2011, 10 in 2010, and 11 in 2009, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Your odds of having an impaired driver on the highway are much higher, but there's a smaller margin for error in aviation," said James Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Drinking among pilots got more attention after notorious cases in the 1990s, including one in which a jury convicted all three pilots of a Northwest Airlines flight of flying under the influence. Federal rules were tightened.

Hall said most airlines and other transportation companies now have effective programs to identify and get treatment for employees with drug or alcohol problems. But, he said, an incident like Friday's should lead to a re-examination of protocols, including the 0.04 standard to testing procedures.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-04-Pilot%20Arrested-American%20Eagle/id-ada07f23524c4de9a2f8b4bebf53349a

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Atom smasher heading for two-year hiatus

GENEVA?? The world's largest and most powerful atom smasher goes into a two-year hibernation in March, as engineers carry out a revamp to help it reach maximum energy levels that could lead to more stunning discoveries following the detection of a long-sought subatomic particle.

With the reopening of its $10 billion proton collider in early 2015, the stage will be set for observing more rare phenomena ? and unlocking more mysteries, said James Gillies, chief spokesman for the European particle physics laboratory known as CERN.

The Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border will operate for two more months then shut down through 2014, allowing engineers to lay thousands more superconducting cables aimed at bringing the machine up to "full design energy," Gillies told The Associated Press on Friday.

Physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym CERN, won't exactly be idle as the collider takes a break. There are still reams more data to sift through since the July discovery of a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, which promises a new realm of understanding of the universe.

For the next two months, the Large Hadron Collider will be smashing protons with lead ions, then undergo several weeks of testing before it shuts down. The collider launched in September 2008, but had to be switched off just nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated, causing extensive damage to the massive magnets and other parts of the collider 300 feet (100 meters) below the ground.

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It cost $40 million to repair and improve the machine. Since its restart in November 2009, the collider has performed almost flawlessly and the power produced has been ramped up to ever-new record levels, creating a treasure trove of new data to sift through.

But because of the 2008 accident, the collider could only run at an energy level far below what it was designed to do. To fix that, Gillies said, engineers over the next two years will install 10,000 redesigned superconducting cables that connect between the magnets. That will vastly improve its capacity to simulate the moments after the big bang nearly 14 billion years ago.

"It will bring you more collisions. Which means that the more collisions you have, the more likely you are to see rare events," he said. "The Higgs particle was just one of many on the wish list that we'd like to find, so higher energy increases your discovery potential."

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50369229/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Adam Lambert Elaborates on Les Miserables Critique

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/adam-lambert-elaborates-on-les-miserables-critique/

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Definitive Technology Sound Cylinder First Listen: A Spectacular, Portable Sound System for Your Tablet or Laptop

The built-in speakers on gadgets are nearly always garbage, and tablets and laptops are the worst of the worst. No one uses the built-in crap if they can avoid it, but portable speakers are either inconvenient or terrible, and so most of us are banished to a life of headphones. Well the new Bluetooth Sound Cylinder from Definitive Technology is the most elegant portable sound system we've ever used. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/AmuC-zUl-2I/definitive-technology-sound-cylinder-first-listen-a-spectacular-portable-sound-system-for-your-tablet-or-laptop

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Your brain on Big Bird: Sesame Street helps to reveal patterns of neural development

Jan. 3, 2013 ? Using brain scans of children and adults watching Sesame Street, cognitive scientists are learning how children's brains change as they develop intellectual abilities like reading and math.

The novel use of brain imaging during everyday activities like watching TV, say the scientists, opens the door to studying other thought processes in naturalistic settings and may one day help to diagnose and treat learning disabilities.

Scientists are just beginning to use brain imaging to understand how humans process thought during real-life experiences. For example, researchers have compared scans of adults watching an entertaining movie to see if neural responses are similar across different individuals. "But this is the first study to use the method as a tool for understanding development," says lead author Jessica Cantlon, an assistant professor in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

Eventually, that understanding may help pinpoint the cause when a child experiences difficulties mastering school work. "Psychologists have behavioral tests for trying to get the bottom of learning impairments, but these new imaging studies provide a totally independent source of information about children's learning based on what's happening in the brain," says Cantlon.

The neuroimaging findings are detailed in a new study published Jan. 3 by the Public Library of Science's open-access journal PLoS Biology, by Cantlon and her former research assistant Rosa Li, now a graduate student at Duke University.

For the investigation, 27 children between the ages of 4 and 11, and 20 adults watched the same 20-minute Sesame Street video. Like the regular program, the recording featured a variety of short clips focused on numbers, words, shapes, and other subjects. The children then took standardized IQ tests for math and verbal ability.

To capture the neural response to the show, the researchers turned to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Unlike X-rays, CAT scans, and other types of brain imaging, fMRI involves no risks, injections, surgery, or exposure to radiation. Using magnetic fields, the scans virtually segment the brain into a three-dimensional grid of about 40,000 pixels, known as voxels, and measure the neural signal intensity in each of those tiny sectors. The study produced 609 scans of each participant, one every two seconds, as they watched Big Bird, the Count, Elmo and other stars of the educational series. Using statistical algorithms, the researchers then created "neural maps" of the thought processes for the children and the adults and compared the groups.

The result? Children whose neural maps more closely resembled the neural maps of adults scored higher on standardized math and verbal tests. In other words, the brain's neural structure, like other parts of the body, develops along predictable pathways as we mature.

The study also confirmed where in the brain these developing abilities are located. For verbal tasks, adult-like neural patterns in the Broca area, which is involved in speech and language, predicted higher verbal test scores in children. For math, better scores were linked to more mature patterns in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), a region of the brain known to be involved in the processing of numbers.

Using normal activities, like TV watching, may provide a more accurate indicator of children's learning and brain development in the real world than the short and simple tasks typical of fMRI studies, the authors argue. Like the Sesame Street video, learning environments in schools are rich in complexity along with the academic lessons, write the authors.

To test that assumption, Cantlon and Li had the children perform traditional fMRI tasks by matching simple pictures of faces, numbers, words, or shapes. During these more limited activities with simple images, the neural responses of the children did not predict their test scores, unlike the more naturalistic task of watching Sesame Street.

Although the study does not advocate TV watching, it does show that "neural patterns during an everyday activity like watching television are related to a person's intellectual maturity," says Cantlon. "It's not the case that if you put a child in front of an educational TV program that nothing is happening-that the brain just sort of zones out. Instead, what we see is that the patterns of neural activity that children are showing are meaningful and related to their intellectual abilities."

Conducted at the Rochester Center for Brain Imaging, the study was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant (R01 HD064636) and by a James S. McDonnell Foundation grant to Cantlon.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Rochester.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Cantlon JF, Li R. Neural Activity during Natural Viewing of Sesame Street Statistically Predicts Test Scores in Early Childhood. PLoS Biol, 2013; 11(1): e1001462 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001462

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/iTybV-joZbs/130103192348.htm

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Myrtle Beach real estate agent indicted for mail fraud in Carolina ...

MYRTLE BEACH -- Scott Lemons, a real estate agent with Exit Realty Elite here, and Simpsonville real estate investor Kevin Robinson were indicted Thursday on three felony charges apiece of mail fraud related to sales of Ashley Park condominium units in the Carolina Forest subdivision, according to court documents filed in federal court.

Both men face maximum sentences of 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each charge. An arraignment date has not been scheduled for either man.

According to the indictment, Lemons and Robinson used several of their companies to help Ashley Park buyers fraudulently obtain financing for their condo units in late 2007 and early 2008. Lemons falsely inflated the comparable values of units in the project by taking part in sham purchases from Ashley Park?s developer, who is not named in the indictment, according to court documents.

Lemons then obtained fraudulent appraisals that overstated the value of Ashley Park units, according to the indictment.

Lemons and Robinson then provided banks with loan applications that included false information about buyers? employment and incomes and falsely stated that buyers had provided down payments for their units, according to court documents.

The indictment makes reference to three specific purchases at Ashley Park, all of them in January 2008. Horry County property records show a $325,000 purchase for unit A-3; $329,500 for unit E-3 and $326,500 for unit E-10. None of the buyers has been named as defendants in any criminal investigation.

All of the units referenced in the indictment went into foreclosure, according to county court records. Condos in the Ashley Park development have recently been selling for less than $60,000, according to statistics from the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors.

Ashley Park is located off Carolina Forest Boulevard near the Spring Lake subdivision.

Source: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2013/01/03/3253790/myrtle-beach-real-estate-agent.html

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Equity Markets Still Look Attractive in 2013: UBS's ... - Yahoo! Finance

Hope springs eternal among most stock strategists and Jeremy Zirin, chief equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management, is no exception. Zirin expects moderate gains in stocks this year and says the market will "continue to grind higher as the economy starts to improve."

There are increasing signs that the economy is improving. The four-week moving average for initial unemployment claims has fallen to its lowest level since March 2008 and the housing market continues to gain momentum. Home prices and new home sales recently posted their biggest gains in 2.5 years and builder confidence has risen to its highest level in more than 6.5 years.

Zirin forecasts GDP growth of 2% to 2.5% this year. Growth will accelerate as Washington adopts new fiscal policies, says Zirin.

?The consumer, which is 70% of the U.S. economy, has been very resilient in the face of policy uncertainty but business investment has lagged,? Zirin notes.

Zirin forecasts a 1,540 rolling 12-month target for the S&P 500 in 2013 based on ?fairly robust? earnings growth and relatively low equity valuations. Stocks are relatively cheap with the S&P 500 trading at 12.7x forward earnings versus the long-term average of 14.5, says Zirin.

Related: Stocks are the Only Asset Class to Own: Josh Brown

?For investors looking to preserve purchasing power down the road, equity markets?.still look very attractive,? says Zirin. ?The spread between the earnings yield of equities -- the inverse of the price earnings multiple, of around 6%-7%--and the very low or negative real yield of fixed income securities is at the widest it?s been in two decades.?

Zirin favors dividend growth stocks which he says carry less overall market risk, generate income and have more potential for dividend growth than current high-yielding dividend stocks. More specifically he favors dividend growth stocks in consumer staples, industrials, health care and technology.

?Lots of established mature tech stocks have tremendously strong balance sheets with tons of cash,? he says.

Related: Forget Stocks? Shilling's Backing Bonds for 2013

Some of that cash, however, remains overseas because of current tax policies. If those policies change to allow repatriation of that cash at lower tax rates that ?could lead to a pretty strong boom in repurchases and dividend increases from the tech sector,? says Zirin.

Tell Us What You Think!

Do you agree with Jeremy that stocks are headed higher? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Got a topic you?d like covered? Have a guest you?d like to see interviewed? Send us an email at thedailyticker@yahoo.com

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Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/equity-markets-still-look-attractive-2013-ubs-zirin-130556584.html

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